Oak Wood

Where did it all begin?

The use of wooden barrels for making wine and whiskey is an ancient technology, dating back nearly 2000 years, and there are a variety of very clever aspects to their design.

Why do they make use of oak wood for making wine?

Traditionally oak has been used for wine barrels, as opposed to other wood, because it is stronger, denser and contains natural chemicals which help improve the quality and flavour of the wine.

Oaks are tall, slow growing, long lived trees, growing up to 40 meters in height, with straight trunks, and up to one meter in diameter. Harvesting begins at around 150 years of age.

Wood is naturally porous. However, the tighter and straighter the grain, the less porous the wood and higher the likelihood of a water-tight barrel. This can also have a bearing on the flavour.

Strength and Density

Oak is a dense wood, moderately hard, moderately heavy, with a good level of stability. Expansion and contraction is minimal. The grain of the wood is very regular, with short fibres offering a good level of compression resistance.

Where does the oak wood come from?

France is Europe’s leading producer of oak (around 40% of barrels globally). in France, oak accounts for approximately five million hectares of French forest

The Best?

Amongst the more famous coopers using the oaks from the Troncais forest is Dominique Laurent who makes some of the world's finest barrels.

The oaks of Troncais represents about 80% of production, are prized for Cognac and the great wines of Bordeaux.

These have been nicknamed "magic casks" by renowned French wine taster Michel Bettane. Laurent goes into the Troncais forest to select the trees (typically around 300 years of age) and transports them back to the cooperage himself,

Only the top section of the trunk is used, the staves are split by hand and air dried for 52 months. The staves are much thicker, due to their hand splitting, compared with commercial barrels, (approximately 40-45mm as opposed to 25-30mm).